Summer's on Its Deathbed

Later on in the day, after Brendon had finished shooting his first part, he had a lot of time to spare until he was needed again on set. But seeing as making videos was one of his favourite things to do, he hung around. Spencer was busy being filmed putting on and lacing up his shoes twenty or thirty times from all different angles. Watching his band mate do the same action over and over again, became quite boring very quickly, so Brendon whipped out his phone and took a picture of Spencer before uploading it to Twitter.

He thanked God he bothered to download various game apps to his phone, as he happily sat there engrossed in a game of Angry Birds.

“Hey!” Brendon jumped, almost dropping his phone. “Too chicken to give me your number in person, eh?” Yasmine stood behind Brendon; hand on her hip which was cocked out to the side.

“Yeah, um…” Brendon rubbed his neck, trying to find the words to say ‘Yeah, I’m a big baby, I was too afraid to give you my number for fear of rejection, but I really like you.’

Instead, he settled for, “I thought maybe you’d want to go out sometime.”

She grinned at him, taking him by the hand. “Where are we going?” Brendon asked her.

“Well, seeing as you need to shoot your scene where you’re driving the car, your make-up needs a retouch.” She stated simply. He followed her without any more questions, quite happy to have her lead the way.

As he sat in the chair, he heard Yasmine softly singing along to the music like she had earlier in the day; except this time, Like A Virgin by Madonna was the song being played.
Anyone who knew Brendon, knew of his not so secret love of 80s Madonna, he was tempted to sing along, so he did exactly that. As Yasmine applied a fresh dusting of powder to his cheeks they sang along together.

She turned around and picked up another powder, this time it was a light pink colour. “Go like this,” she said, accompanying the instruction with an action. She sucked in her cheeks slightly and began to do an impression of a fish. The two began laughing at her antics, “no, but seriously, could you suck in your cheeks a little, please.”

Brendon did as he was told, as Yasmine applied the blusher along his cheek bones.
Yasmine placed the make-up back down on the counter, inspecting Brendon’s face to make sure she’d done a thorough job. “You’re all done, mister.” She smiled, patting him on the head.

The rest of the day passed with Brendon pulling out of a car park of a house near the studio, him driving down the freeway and then pulling up to the kerb. Although the journey between the two places was no more than a 10 minute round trip, they had to do it multiple times, for around 2 and half hours.

By the time Brendon was done, it was around 10 pm. He knew the next day was going to be much longer and much more strenuous as they were filming the performance parts of the video. So he decided to decline Spencer’s offer to go out and get something to eat, in favour of going home and curling up in bed. After being alone, and doing pretty much nothing for a month, the action and physicality of the day had completely taken it out of Brendon.

Brendon had said goodbye to the guys and was about to leave the lot, but he wanted to look for Yasmine, to bid her farewell for the day. But when he went to the make-up trailer, the other woman who was in there told Brendon that Yasmine had left a few hours before and that she always tended to leave hastily.

The next day, Brendon arrived on set, only to be ambushed by Spencer and Dallon. “Hey Brendon!” Spencer called as he was running toward his band mate at full force.

Brendon shot Dallon a confused look, as if to say, ‘what the hell is up with him?’

Dallon simply mouthed back, ‘Liz’, and Brendon immediately knew why his best friend was so happy. His girlfriend Liz was flying in from New York later in the day to spend a few months out on the west coast with Spencer.

When they parted from their hug, Spencer couldn’t seem to wipe the sappy grin off of his face, and Brendon knew how he felt. He used to be exactly the same when She would surprise him on tour.

Brendon had to wait while Ian had his make-up done before Yasmine got around to him. Even though they’d only met the day before, they had a little routine of singing together whenever Brendon was in the make-up chair.

Trying to work up the courage to ask Yasmine out, Brendon began to have some reservations. He wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved with anyone, so soon after what happened. But he felt a strange attraction to Yasmine; it was something he knew he wouldn’t be able to ignore. He also knew that if he missed his opportunity with her, he’d regret it; even if they went out and ultimately broke up, it would be better than not know what could have been.

So, he came to a compromise with himself, he would ask Yasmine to come over to his house at the weekend. Brendon had invited all of the guys over; Spencer’s girlfriend, Liz was going; as was Dallon’s wife Breezy and their two children Amelie and Knox; however, Ian’s girlfriend couldn’t make it as she was out of the country with her family.

Within seconds, Brendon became a mess, his hands began to sweat, as did his forehead (there was nothing he could do, he sweated when he got nervous – he was just a sweaty guy!). Yasmine turned around to look for some tissue. “Brendon is it too hot for you in here? You’re sweating a bit, I could open a window…”

“No,” he shook his head, “it’s fine, I just wanted to ask you something.”

Yasmine picked up the mascara and combed the wand through his eyelashes. “Shoot.”
Trying to keep his eyes open so she could apply the mascara properly and figuring out what to say was tough. “I was wondering if you wanted to come over to mine at the weekend. I’m having all the guys over, just a bit of hanging out, grilling some steaks, that sort of thing.” He began to get even more nervous; he tried to subtly wipe his sweating palms on his jeans.

With nonchalance about her voice, Yasmine replied “Yeah sounds great. I’ll have to make sure, but that sounds great!”

Brendon let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. “Okay, if you give me a call, maybe Friday to confirm, and I’ll tell you my address, and times, and stuff like that, if that’s okay with you…” He began to ramble, before reprimanding himself for sounding silly.

“That…sounds…fine.” She said, pausing between each word as her brow furrowed in concentration. She was applying gel eyeliner, trying to make the line as subtle and even as possible.

After she was done, and Brendon was leaving, she gave a little wave and watched him walk away to start filming.

“Guys, I know this is the first take, but don’t hold back. You’re not playing to the 10 people in this room; you’re playing to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden. I want the biggest performance you’re capable of.” Shane instructed the four young men.

As the music was cued and began to play out around the room, the band began to play. There was an intense quality to that first take; everyone’s energy was balled up, waiting to be let out. They played as big as they could; every movement was exaggerated, 10 times bigger than they usually would have done it.

Although keeping up a performance that was so draining was extremely hard. By the 43rd take, Brendon was about ready to keel over.

“And, that is a wrap on the Panic! At The Disco video!” Chris, the Director of Photography announced on his megaphone. Everyone who was on the set began to applaud and cheer.

“Well done everyone!” Spencer hollered, pulling Brendon, Ian and Dallon into a group hug.